Hope
by meganzez
Summary: The Doctor and Donna run into a familiar face on a foreign planet, giving the Doctor some much needed hope. Confusion, old friends, new friends, and wormlike aliens. One-shot. Unbeta'd.


"This is it? That's all there is?"

"No! No, no, no, this is just the beginning Donna! This is the home of the Ba Gualish. A very peaceful people that believe that the small and beautiful events is what life is all about. Every day is a new adventure for them, they go new places, meet new people, and try to look at life beautifully. Of course, this is before the Accident."

"The Accident?" Donna asked while looking around the barren landscape. She was sure he landed wrong and they were somewhere completely different. It looked like an abandoned field to Donna. Not unlike the fields from Earth. "Oi! Are you lying to me spaceman? There's nothing here."

"Ba Gualish live underground, Donna." The Doctor ran a hand through his hair and began to spin in circles looking for something. "They're like your Earth worms in that they can travel much better in dirt than above ground. Also the sun can burn them if they're out too long. In fact, they even look a bit like worms. Well, worms that are bipedal and have faces. Well, more like humans with wormish skin. Well, I say wormish..."

"Whatever," Donna said and put a hand up to stop him from opening his mouth again. "Just find the entrance. I wanna meet these worms and tell them they really need to do something about all these weeds. They're gettin' stuck in my shoes!"

The Doctor looked around again.

Donna and the Doctor, off to see the universe. Travelling to places like the Circle of Gua. A great planet, one of the Doctor's favorites. He wasn't lying when he told Donna that the Ba Gualish live every day like it's their first. They love to explore and invent and laugh. But something was wrong. The Doctor has come to this planet at least once in every regeneration and never in his previous nine had anything been wrong.

The entire planet was giant field of golden grass that always reminded the Doctor of Elysium, except around the equator was a ring of dormant volcanoes topped with beautiful snow that melted into rushing rivers. The Doctor and Donna were near the south pole, hence the lack of landscaping.

But the grass wasn't gold. The grass was brown and there was weeds.

"That should be impossible. There's things that should prevent that."

"What should be prevented? And where's the door? I want to go shopping for wormish hats." Donna snipped and put her hands on her hips, ignoring the Doctor's spastic investigation of his surroundings. "Stop gibber-jabbering and make sense!"

"Donna!" He spun around with a big smile. Donna couldn't help but smile back. He rarely smiled, although he did seem to smile a lot more than when they first met on her wedding day. She supposed time does heal all wounds.

"Yes?" She responded instead of continuing her train of thought.

"The weeds! You figured it out!"

"Figured what out?" It was times like this when she wanted to smack the Doctor. It's not very fair of him to make her feel special and then explain how she _'figured it out'_ when she hadn't really done anything at all. She loved being praised, but false appraisal was not something she particularly enjoyed.

"Something's happened, something's gone wrong. There is a chemical in the air, perfectly harmless to you and me, but deadly to most weeds. It's why this planet is on The Cosmos List of the top beautiful planets in the Gongle galaxy. Second to the circling planets in the eighth arm. Now there's a fun place."

"Get to the point!"

"Right, something in the air had changed since the last time I've been here. The whole planet just feels different. Like a-"

Suddenly the ground began shaking and sound similar to groaning filed the air. Donna lost her footing and collapsed in a heap into the weeds, cursing and yelling about stupid Martians. The Doctor stabilized when the ground did.

"That was brilliant!" He beamed and helped Donna up.

"No. It. Wasn't." She wiped away some of the dirt before glaring at the Doctor. "What was that anyway, an earthquake?"

"I've no idea! This planet doesn't get earthquakes, at least down here. That was something else, something new and exciting." The Doctor let out an exuberant laugh before walking around looking at the ground.

"Now what're you doing?"

"Looking for the entrance. The Tardis had to have landed us near one. They're everywhere, you can't miss 'em. Sorry Donna, once we get in, we'll have to investigate, so no hat shopping."

"Course not." Donna rolled her eyes. "Hold on, Doctor, what's that?" She pointed out in the distance behind the Doctor.

The Doctor spun around and squinted. He put a hand up to block the sun and said, "That looks like an entrance. Or more appropriately, an exit."

Sure enough, humanoid aliens were pouring out of a hole in the ground. They were too far away for Donna to get a clear image of what they looked like, but that wouldn't last long. The Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her into the Tardis.

"Are we going over there?"

The Doctor looked over and responded by grinning and pulling the dematerialization lever. The console whirred and hummed and the room shook. This was fun, although Donna would be loathe to admit it. The Doctor was her best friend and seeing him helping people one day while completely missing their destination the next warmed her heart. He was a stupid alien, but he was her stupid alien.

The Tardis landed with a harsh thud making the Doctor lose his grip and fall over. Donna, who had wrapped her arms tightly around a coral pillar, burst into laughter.

"Not funny Donna."

"I don't know, looks funny from where I'm standing."

The Doctor threw her a look that told her exactly how he felt and grabbed his brown trench coat to put on while running out the door. Donna followed a normal pace.

Outside the Tardis, people were yelling and running in different directions. Some were still climbing out of what Donna thought looked suspiciously like an underground toilet, others were huddled in small groups talking angrily, but most everyone was holding an umbrella over their heads to block out the harmful sunrays.

"Excuse me!" The Doctor said and walked up to a huddled family, Donna followed. "Yes, hi! My name's the Doctor, I was wondering, what happened?"

"_What happened_?" The tallest Ba Gualish spat. The alien had wormish looking skin like the Doctor said, but they looked too much like a human for Donna's liking. "Are you joking! How could you not know what happened?"

The Doctor tried and failed to look sheepish. "Sorry, see, me and my friend," He gestured to Donna, "We just got here. I was going to show her your famous hats, and make her try your hand made jammie dodgers."

"JAMMIE DODGERS!" The man yelled and stormed off.

The Doctor turned around with a confused look. "I don't ever remember the Ba Gualish being this rude."

"It's your fault!" Donna said. "Maybe if you were a bit nicer, they would be nice too."

"Nice! I was being nice!"

Donna huffed and crossed her arms, "Let me try."

Donna, ignoring whatever the Doctor was about to say walked over to the huddled family now missing it's tallest member. It was beginning to get harder and harder to hear. The amount of people coming out of the toilet was astonishing.

"Hello! Hi, Donna Noble," she introduced. "See, the thing is, I just landed a few minutes ago because I'm, erm, out of petrol, and I've no idea what's happened. Could you fill me in?"

"There was an explosion." A voice said behind her, she turned around expecting to see another Ba Gualish, but instead saw a normal human man. Or at least something that looked like a normal human, granted, a bit of dorky and awkward human.

"Who're you?" She asked and waved to get the Doctor's attention, but he seemed distracted by something else.

"My name's Rory."

"Hello Rory, I'm Donna, do you mind coming to tell me and my friend what happened?"

She didn't give him a chance to reply, but he put up no resistance when she dragged him through the weeds to meet the Doctor. When they reached the Doctor's side and he still gave no notice to them, Donna huffed and snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Oi! Spaceman! What's gotten into you?"

The Doctor turned around and Donna was taken aback by the sadness in his eyes. Sometimes she forgot how old he was, but when she looked into his eyes and saw the heartbreak and pain, it was impossible to forget. Donna pulled him into a hug, completely forgetting about Rory.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

The Doctor pulled back looking a bit better and said quietly, "Rose."

Donna didn't know what to do about that. Rose. "The 'Her name was Rose' Rose? That Rose?"

The Doctor mentioned her sometimes, but only in passing, and she doubted he ever noticed when he did. The few times he intentionally brought her up were always hard. At Donna's question, the Doctor nodded and she could see the longing rush over his features.

"It's alright Doctor. Tell me what happened."

The Doctor rubbed a hand over his face. "It's nothing. I just thought I saw her. But It couldn't have been her. She's trapped in a parallel universe. Stuck there forever."

"Maybe she has a wormish look-alike."

"Doubtful as the person I saw was definitely human. But that brings up the question of what other humans are doing here." The Doctor seemed to move on from his momentary lapse. "Humans haven't come this far yet. We're half a universe away from Earth, so what are they doing here. Did you find out what happened?"

Donna was tempted to drag him away to talk, but the milling crowd was enough to discourage that idea. Instead she answered, "No. But I found a human too. Name's Rory and he said there was an explosion."

Donna began looking around. "I brought him over to meet you and explain things, but he's-never mind, he's over there."

The Doctor followed Donna's finger to see a man with a large nose standing next to a blonde in a union jack.

"Donna," The Doctor said slowly. "He's next to Rose."

His voice sounded strangled and tired. Donna grabbed his hand and started to march them forward. The blonde and Rory were talking to a Ba Gualish couple. The Doctor seemed frantic.

"Don't start that, you great big alien dunce!" Donna pulled him forward despite his resistance.

"Donna I can't."

"What? Are you just going to stay away from blondes for the rest of your life? C'mon. We'll talk to them and then we'll go somewhere where you and me can have a nice happy chat about Rose, alright? Good."

But when Rory and the blond turned around to talk to someone else, the Doctor stopped dead. Donna turned around, ready to yell, but his face was white and clammy and his eyes were big.

"But that's impossible."

"What now?"

"That's Rose. That's really Rose."

Donna turned around to look at the girl again. She was pretty, but her mouth was a bit wide. And she was _blonde_. And so was River, now that Donna thought about it. Maybe he has a thing for blondes. Donna looked at Rose again and could tell why the Doctor liked her. When she smiled everyone smiled with her, and they way she held that wormish hand of the Ba Gualish she was talking to made Donna think she was a bit motherly.

"How do you mean 'that's Rose?'"

"I mean that's her. She's even wearing that shirt." The Doctor seemed frozen and unable to move.

"Well, go on, talk to her!" Donna urged. If this was somehow Rose...

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?! Just walk over there and say hi!"

"What if it's not really her. Or what if I brought her here and just forgot, I can't risk crossing the timelines."

"Now you're just making stuff up!" Donna snapped. She breathed in deeply and tried to keep patient. The only time she was ever patient was when it concerned Rose. "How 'bout this, you and me get closer and try to listen to what they're saying. If it sounds like Rose we talk to her, if it's not her then we leave and this whole mess can be sorted by someone else."

Not waiting for the Doctor to answer, she grabbed his arm and dragged him close enough to hear what the maybe-Rose and Rory were saying.

Rory was speaking first, "...name was Donna."

"So?"

"She was human."

"Listen, Rory, as curious as that is, we need to get out of here."

"We did almost blow up their planet." Rory conceded.

Donna looked over to the Doctor and smirked. She could tell just from his face that it was Rose. It had to be.

"But that's impossible," The Doctor whispered. This time Donna didn't need to drag him through the weeds and Ba Gualish. When Rose and Rory walked off to talk to another Ba Gualish family, the Doctor and Donna took off after them.

Donna's heart was racing. She would be so happy for her Martian if he finally got reunited with Rose. He deserved it more than anyone in this universe. This time when they got close enough the Doctor spun around and whispered to Donna, "What do I do?" Donna just shrugged.

"Hello," Rose was saying to what looked like the rude and tall wormish person from before. "Me and my friend here were just looking for some people. One's a man with brown hair and a horrible fashion sense, calls himself the Doctor. And he's with a fiery red headed woman that's too loud for her own good. 'ave you seen them?"

The man grunted and pointed directly at the Doctor and Donna. Rose turned around with a smile that immediately dropped from her face when she saw the Doctor.

"Doctor?" She asked quietly, surprised to see him.

The Doctor seemed to be having similar trouble speaking and only whispered, "Rose?"

Donna rolled her eyes at the two of them. Rory just seemed confused.

As if they had practiced beforehand, both the Doctor and Rose ran the last few steps and caught each other in a hug, that Donna would freely admit looked far more intimate than any of her hugs with the Doctor. The alien in question picked up Rose and spun her around, making her feet knock into Rory.

Donna walked over to Rory, and together they watched as Rose and the Doctor examined each other from the top of their hair to the mud on their shoes.

The Doctor, for his part, had never felt more whole. He knew from the very beginning that Rose was trouble, and he tried not to get attached. But that didn't seem to matter to his hearts the day Rose was cruelly ripped away from him.

Now with her back in his arms everything felt... it felt like _more_. Everything was more. The heat was more comfortable, the sounds more manageable, the chaos gone. She was more beautiful than he remembered. She was more fantastic and strong. He felt more too. He felt her in his arms and the wind on his neck. He felt her heart pounding an unnatural rhythm from all this excitement. He could feel the love pouring out of her.

The Doctor pulled away just enough to look her in the eye. There was something different about her, and despite his happiness, he had to say, "You're different."

Instead of getting upset or laughing it off, Rose just smiled sadly and said, "Good different or bad different?"

The Doctor remembered another exchange that went exactly like this when he regenerated. But instead of playing into Rose's game where she clearly wanted him to replay their old conversation, he said, "How're you here? The walls of the universe are closed, you shouldn't be here. You impossible thing." The last part he said with a bit of pride.

Rose smiled and pulled out of his arms. He felt her loss immediately. Instead of explaining herself, Rose turned to Rory and told him to, "Keep searching. I'll find you later."

Rory nodded and dashed off. Now it was just the Doctor, Donna, and Rose in the middle of a Ba Gualish crowd.

"Rose, I don't understand."

"Doctor, my Doctor." Rose reached up and brushed a hand over his features. He leaned into her hand, but she pulled away. "You're not supposed to be here. And Donna too, but it's good to see you again."

Donna looked surprised to be dragged into the conversation with a girl she didn't know, but said nothing. The Doctor, however, couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"What do you mean? Rose, you're the one that's not supposed to be here. How did you get here anyway? There is no way for you to have crossed the void." The Doctor then pulled out his 3D glasses and slipped them on. Rose smiled at the familiar sight. "And look at you! Covered in void stuff. Ha! Rose Tyler you are amazing!"

The Doctor swept her up in another hug, but this one didn't last as long because, again, Rose pulled away. "But wait," The Doctor continued. "You didn't rip a hole in the universes did you? That's not very responsible. I'll have to fix it. Rose, please tell me. How did you get here? And what's going on around here?"

Rose sighed and grabbed the Doctor's hand. He'd been getting worked up. She'd forgotten how this regeneration could be. His next could get mean and scary, sometimes even sad. But he never got so worked up that he wouldn't stop talking. But then again, he always had Rose, this Doctor just found her again.

"Well, you don't have to worry about what's happened on this planet. We fixed it."

"Who's we?" Donna piped in. "You and that Rory bloke? And if you two were looking for me and him," she shrugged toward the Doctor, "how come he didn't recognize us when we first ran into him?"

"Good job, Donna," Rose beamed. "Always asking the right questions."

"That's not much of an answer, blondie." Donna replied with eyebrows raised.

"Rose..." The Doctor said softly, seeming to finally catch on. "How are you here?"

Rose gazed at the Doctor, not how a reunited lover should be gazing. It was more like she was looking at her first love at a school reunion. Or an old photograph of a boyfriend. Sweet and loving, but not full of life and passion. Rose opened her mouth to finally answer the Doctor, but at that moment there was a flash of light and the distinct sound of teleportation.

All three non-Ba Gualish looked over to see a woman knocking into an older Ba Gualish woman. She steadied herself, apologized, and then turned to face Rose, the Doctor, and Donna. She was blonde with a mass of curls and a smirk nestled on her face.

"Hello, sweetie." River Song announced. She looked around at the large amount of aliens and sighed. "What did the Doctor do?"

"I didn't do anything!" The Doctor said and threw his hands up. He did not want to deal with River Song right now, not until he got to talk to Rose.

"Who is this?" River asked looking at the Doctor. That made both Donna and the Doctor pause.

"That's the Doctor. I'm Donna. This is Rose. And you're Professor River Song." Donna said with no small amount of confusion.

"Professor?"

"No, no, Donna." Rose interrupted before they could speak anymore. "River, where the hell have you been!"

Rose marched over and pulled River into a hug. The Doctor and Donna watched on in confusion.

"Sorry, Rose, it's been confusing to say the least." River shrugged. "But what happened around here?"

"The Doctor and Amy nearly blew up the planet while looking for you. Me and Rory had been looking for you over in Hat Square, when the place blew, we lost the Doctor and Amy. And now I've lost Rory. This has not been a good day."

"I'm afraid this is partly my fault. But that man! I swear, we can't leave him alone for five minutes!"

"Don't worry about it River. Can you go find him though? Tell 'im what's happened. I've got a bit to sort through here." Rose gestured to the quiet Doctor and Donna.

River nodded and set her teleport, but before leaving she took a good look at them and said, "The Doctor will be the death of me." Then she disappeared in the standard bluish-white light that symbolized teleportation.

The Doctor looked physically pained, but said nothing. Rose smiled softly and said, "It gets easier to lie to her."

"Rose," The Doctor said, ignoring her previous statement. Donna noted he wasn't smiling anymore. "You're not here for me, are you?"

"I'm always here for you."

"That's not what I meant."

"Wait a minute, just wait a minute!" Donna said and marched in between them. She held up her hands in surrender before pointing at Rose. "You. Explain everything. Answer his questions. And Mine. Why didn't River Song know who we are? What the hell are you doing here if it's not for him? I should smack you!"

"Donna, by the looks of things," The Doctor said and pulled Donna back. "My future just got a little bit brighter."

Rose smiled.

"Well good for you, alien boy!" It wasn't a happy sounding sentiment. "I'm still confused and I still want an explanation."

"Yes, I would like to know how you got here? There isn't any tears in the walls of the universe are there?"

"I can't answer your questions, Doctor."

"Why?"

"I already did. In my past." Rose sighed and looked to Donna. "Donna, I'm from his future. Me and him, we find each other again. The universe, for once, gives us a break. That's why I can't answer his questions. Knowing too much about your own future is dangerous."

"Fine." Donna crossed her arms, but then slumped over. "Rose, River didn't recognize us. Last time we met, when I told her who I was, she reacted funny. Where am I in the future? Cause I know I would never leave. This life, the travelling, it's too great."

The Doctor smiled at his best friend, but knew immediately that Rose wasn't going to answer.

"Donna, I can't tell you your future."

"Please!"

Rose shook her head, but upon seeing Donna's eyes get watery, she sighed and said, "You don't need to worry about anything. You do amazing things, you change the world. The universe never forgets you, Donna Noble. And you, you're all right. I promise. Safe and sound and alive and so, so special."

Donna laughed it off, "Yeah, right. I'm no one special. I'm just a temp."

Rose laughed. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again, 'Donna Noble, you are the most important woman in the whole of creation!'"

"Oh, stop it." Donna said.

"She's right you know. Rose is always right." The Doctor nodded and slipped his hands into his pockets. "I only take the best, and you Donna, you are the best."

Rose smiled at the Doctor.

"But there's still something I don't understand."

"What's that?"

"River Song, how come she doesn't know who we are?" Donna asked.

"Donna, she died last time we met. This must be in her past some time." The Doctor said sadly.

"Yeah, that," Rose accepted. "Well, that, and the fact that we always meet out of order." Rose shrugged and turned back to the Doctor. "I know you're worried. I can see it all over your face, clear as day. You're worried about me, now and past me. You're worried about your future. You're worried I'll ask you to forget everything that's happened today."

The Doctor nodded. "Well, you are jeopardy friendly."

"And you're a trouble magnet."

Donna laughed. "She got you, Doctor."

"But, I don't want you to worry." Rose reached forward and grabbed his hand out of his pocket. "I promise, when you find me for the first time I will give you all the answers you want. I'll even give you a bit more than answers. There's a lot in your future Doctor, and some of it's not so nice. But you and me, we can handle it. We've got the Ponds, and River. She's a superhero. We don't really know the truth about her yet, but I've got some ideas. Only you'll have to wait to hear them. You and Donna have to go. We'll take care of this." Rose gestured around her to all the Ba Gualish.

"I can't leave you Rose, not like this."

He seemed so broken and tired. Rose remembered when she first made it back to him all those years ago. Nothing could compare to the pain he was feeling at the end. That regeneration was so tired and worn down. Rose would always, always miss him, just like she'll miss ol' blue eyes, but when the Doctor regenerated and he was fresh and in less pain, she was happy for him.

"What if I do something wrong or different and we never meet again? Time can be rewritten."

"I have full confidence in you. You and Donna." Rose nodded. "But you've got to go now. Maybe, take a trip to Shan Shen, you talk about how much fun you had there."

The Doctor was about to respond when another human came running up to them. She had red hair, and that was enough to make the Doctor feel a bit better.

"Rose!" The girl was frantic but the Doctor smiled even more, she was Scottish too!

"Amy!" Rose grabbed for her. "What's happened?"

"Me and the Doctor, we were looking for River, but then we lost you and Rory."

"I know that part, how did you blow up everything?"

"It was an accident? The Doctor called it The Accident, the ultimate accident. He's so weird." Amy sighed. "Where's Rory?"

"Er... I lost him." She said.

Amy shot Rose a look before she ran off. Rose sighed and brought a hand up to rub her forehead.

She turned back to the Doctor. "Well, there you have it. This is your future Doctor. The Ponds just got married, this is supposed to be their honeymoon. I suppose we have to make up for this. Maybe we'll put them on a cruise. It will be a far sight better. A Christmas Cruise."

Before anyone could respond, River appeared again, this time fuming.

"What now?" Rose asked warily.

"I found Amy and the Doctor. Then we lost Amy. Then we found Rory. Then we lost the Doctor. Then I lost Rory. At least you haven't wandered off... yet." River looked around, annoyed. "I'm worried the Doctor is going to do something stupid. Like always."

As if her words triggered it, a loud bang sounded followed by several screams from the other side of the large crowd. River glared at the old Doctor before running off.

Rose laughed.

"Sorry, Doctor. I should probably stop future you from doing something incredibly stupid." Rose leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you later."

Not being able to resist, the Doctor said, "Not if I see you first."

Rose laughed, hugged him, and then ran off in the direction of the yelling Ba Gualish.

The Doctor looked depressed. Again. Donna sighed. She grabbed his hand and began pulling him back to the Tardis, through the weeds and grumbling people. When they were far enough away, Donna thought she heard someone loudly shout, "Geronimo!"

"You know you should take this as a good sign and stop looking like someone just kicked your dog," Donna said.

"I don't have a dog," the Doctor responded. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I did once. K-9. He was a good dog. Well, I say dog. A very metallic dog. All my companions kept taking him."

Donna laughed and the Doctor laughed too.

Rose couldn't come with him, that was sad. But Rose was coming back, and that has to be the best thing there is. She said the universe gives them a break, for once. The Doctor smiled and thought that maybe everything will be all right.

Seeing his hope return, Donna smiled and said, "C'mon, Doctor. Let's go to that place Rose mentioned. Shenshee, or whatever."

* * *

**Okay, okay, I know I kinda leave this open ended, but I don't want to continue it. Sorry. This was only meant to give the Doc hope. If anyone is inspired by this and wants to write a sequel, go for it! Just message and tell me you're doing it. **

**Hope you liked it.**


End file.
